My column today on the latest twist in the credit card interest rate scam hit home with a lot of people, and I'm starting to see a trend emerge.

I've heard from about a dozen people today who have received the sleazy calls disguised as calls coming from local businesses and residents, with their number and name appearing on the caller ID. I also heard from someone whose phone number was used as a front to make those underhanded calls.

If you're not familiar with this, read today's Watchdog column (here) for the background.

The short version of the tale is that scheisters that rip off people by telling them they can reduce the interest rates on their credit cards for an advance fee now have started cloaking their calls by portraying a false name and phone number on caller IDs in the hopes you'll pick up. It's known as "spoofing." You can read more about what that is in this column I wrote several years ago.

After talking to several of the people who reached out to me today, here's the trend that I'm seeing. The numbers that are being "spoofed" often are only a few digits different than the recipient's phone number.

Here's an example. A woman whose home phone number ends in 2707 got spoofed calls coming from a business with the same first three digits and ending in 2711. There were a few other examples, too. In one case, a woman said she got a call from her own number!

I'm not familiar enough with spoofing technology to understand how a con artist can make that happen, but I've seen enough examples to know it's happening too often to discount it.

I also know the Federal Communications Commission has been hearing a number of complaints about this issue from Pennsylvania residents. A Slatington man whose phone number was hijacked to make calls to a woman nearby told me he filed a complaint with the FCC and was told complaints previously had been pouring in from the Chicago area, and now were coming in from Pennsylvania.

Several people have asked me where they can file complaints about these calls. You can try your local police just so they have a record of the scam attempt, but I don't know how much they'd be able to do about it.

You also could try the FCC (888-225-5322 (prompt 5) or online), the Federal Trade Commission (877-FTC-HELP or online) and/or the Pennsylvania attorney general's office (800-441-2555 or online).

If you've received these scam calls under spoofed numbers, freel free to contact me and share your story. You can read a recent warning from the Better Business Bureau about spoofing here.

My take on credit cards is that , today unless you are extremely disciplined paying out of a credit card just takes that peace away leading to more stress read my blog on dealing with credit cards below